The Concert Scene 2009

2009 was a great year for me in so many ways, but it was definitely a low point in the world of live music. In years past I've seen 20+ concerts, but this year I only made it to five! There are a number of factors I blame for this:
1) There were times that I was so busy with work this year that I forgot to buy food, let alone concert tickets...
2) I don't discover as many new artists as I used to, so the pool of concerts worth seeing has greatly diminished...
3) Most of the aging acts I see over and over and over - Bowie (7x), The Who (8x) - took the year off - maybe they were touring nursing homes instead of popular NYC venues...
4) MJ was on my must-see list when I was heading over to London, and we all know how that turned out...
5) I may have seen more shows and just don't remember. If that is the case, please let me know if I attended a concert with you in 2009!

Here was the set list for 2009 - let's hope 2010 sees more concert-going activity!

Air Supply, 20 Feb 2009
The year started out with a soft rock bang as we saw these Aussie "rockers" at the Nokia Theatre Times Square (my first time there). This evening can be blamed on the bucket list we started at 4am at Brandy's Piano Bar in January - who ever thought they would actually be touring when we declared them a must-see event? Ruffo, Cindy and I had a great evening - they sang every one of our favorites and we got to meet them after the show, where they were freely giving out autographs, kisses and hugs.

Little Russell is my favorite, but the other guy kept sneaking into our pictures

Franz Ferdinand, May 2009
This band hit the scene when I was living in London and back in 2004, Jihan and I vowed we would see them live some day. Thanks to Stub Hub for making this dream come true! Although I am getting way too old for standing-room only concerts - and the elbowing, pushing, bumping and foot stepping that come with them - this show was fantastic. The Scottish cuties rocked all of our favorites and played almost the entire new album.

Spinal Tap: Unwigged & Unplugged, May 2009
Thanks to my brother's absent-mindedness, I inherited his 2 free tickets to this show at the newly restored (and fabulous) Beacon Theatre, and what a great show it was! I tried not to rub it in but had to tell him all of the highlights from the night: songs from all of Christopher Guest's movies, lots of witty banter in between songs, and a stunning rendition of "Saucy Jack" (which we just downloaded for our Xbox Rock Band - naughty, naughty, naughty). Ruffo was such a sport for coming to this show with me, especially since she has never seen "This is Spinal Tap". We'll have to remedy that in 2010.

Steely Dan: Takin It To The Seats Internet Request Night, 11 Aug 2009
Back at the Beacon again, this time for my second time seeing Steely Dan and to drag Ruffo to another concert. Steely Dan was never known for being a live band or enjoying the tour scene - painfully obvious when Donald Fagen told an audience member to 'fuck off'. He was as annoyed as I was that people were shouting out requests at an all request show. We all were given the opportunity to vote for the set list online after we purchased our tickets. I tried to vote for 'Dirty Work' 20 times, but was only allowed one vote per song. Luckily, a few others must have voted for it, too, because it was played alongside all of my other faves.

Ray Davies, 20 Nov 2009
A fantastic show that I gushed about in a previous post:
http://lowhitesbargrill.blogspot.com/2009/11/music-melodies-memories_21.html
and, surprisingly, the only concert Dave and I made it to together this year. He's obviously gotten a lot better at saying 'no' when I buy tickets to a show he's just not that interested in.

There were two shows I would have liked to have seen but missed out on. The first is Kylie Minogue. Jihan and I talked about seeing this show when we first heard about it, but I blame the launches of www.ivillage.com/entertainment and www.ivillage.com/food for this totally falling off of my radar. The second was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame anniversary show. I came so close to winning a pair of tickets but ended up with two bottles of Top Chef wine instead. Hardly makes up for the chance to see Lou Reed and Simon & Garfunkel, but will come in very handy when celebrating the start of 2010.

Music: Melodies + Memories, pt. 2

*Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen Ray Davies on tour yet!*

My expectations couldn't have been more incorrect last week because last night's set list at the Ray Davies' show was a huge surprise. What a phenomenal show! The evening started with Ray and his collaborator playing an acoustic set that included some oldies but goodies. After a brief intermission, he continued the show with a great backing band and started rocking Town Hall. But the highlight of the evening was definitely the 24 member choir joining him on stage for the rearranged Kinks' tunes.

The first song sung with the choir was "Shangri-La." Although it has never been one of my favorites, it truly blew me away. The beauty of the 24 backing voices was overwhelming and it suited the song perfectly. "Victoria" was also fantastic and got everyone on their feet.

The songs of "Village Green Preservation Society" are also perfectly suited to the new choral arrangements and what a set they did! Not only did they play "Johnny Thunder", "Days", "The Village Green Preservation Society", "Picture Book", "Big Sky", and "Village Green", but they also played "Do You Remember Walter?" - fantastic! This exceeded my wildest expectations. This album, released on November 10th, is most definitely on my Christmas list.

It was a tie for best song of the evening: "Lola" or "Waterloo Sunset" - two songs that couldn't be more different. But I'd have to say "Waterloo Sunset" edges it out due to its sheer beauty. Dave had put this song on a mini-disk (ha!) he made for me when I moved to London; therefore, it will always hold special memories for me.

Music: Melodies + Memories

I can't remember the last time I sat down to write and not test a web site or log tech bugs, so am thrilled to sit and do nothing at this moment but write while listening to one of my favorite albums.

Dave has rigged up an amazing AV system in our house which allows me to access hundreds of movies and 700+ CDs without moving from the couch, yet I turn on the same CD all the time: The Kinks' 'Village Green Preservation Society'. It is my background music for everything I do in or outside of my home - cooking, cleaning, gardening, tanning, working. What is it that keeps drawing me to this album? It is literally driving Dave crazy that it is always the first CD I ask him to put on when he has worked tirelessly to catalog our huge music collection.

Three songs in particular make me smile and/or cry:
1. Do You Remember Walter?
What a fantastic song reminiscing about childhood, times when things were easier and finding lost friends. Oh how Facebook has killed the mystery of waxing nostalgiac about lost friends and where they are now, since you can now find everyone you've ever known and no longer have to wonder how they have changed. It's almost as if I love this song because it makes me think of my childhood in a charming British village; funny, since I grew up in suburban NJ. Actually, a psychic in Trafalgar Square once read my aura as I soaked in the sights + sounds of London after an extended absence and told me I led a previous life in England. I don't believe in psychics or auras, but the thought of that possibility definitely made me smile and would explain a lot.



















2. Animal Farm
Upon first seeing the title of this song, I thought of one of my top 5 books - Orwell's 'Animal Farm'. Not such a far-fetched concept since David Bowie had once tried to write a concept album based on Orwell's '1984' but was not given the permission to do so. '1984' and 'Big Brother' are amazing songs, but I digress. I love this song even though I'm not keen on animals or farms, it's just sweet and fun. It also brings back great memories of taking an illicit long lunch from Art Ren with Mike + Gregg to see Ray Davies speak at J&R Music World. Gregg was so shocked that I knew, let alone loved, this song.

3. Days -
This may actually be an extra track on this extended version CD and one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I probably listened to it a hundred times before realizing its true beauty. It took Bob Geldof talking about it on a Ray Davies rockumentary to make me give it another listen. I've also seen clips of it being performed live back in the day and now have this lovely image of Ray in his big purple shades and shaggy hair singing this while tickling the ivories.

We're seeing Ray Davies perform at Town Hall in NYC on Friday night and I know that, just like last time we went to see him, I'll wish for more songs to be played from this album and it won't happen but the show will still be great. He did sing 'Days' last time, so a girl can dream. I'll get to hear my favorites in other ways - like putting this CD on for the zillionth time next Saturday or watching 'Hot Fuzz' again. What a great soundtrack that movie has, but I digress yet again...